Are Braves in on Jimmy Rollins?

Jayson Stark seems to think so. I’d be for it, assuming his contract didn’t exceed three years.

Rollins, 33 later this month, rebounded nicely last season after a shitty 2010, batting .268 with a .338 OBP, 16 homers, 63 RBI and 30 steals. He’s remained fairly healthy, missing significant time just once, in 2010. With scouts divided on Tyler Pastornicky’s potential and Andrelton Simmons at least two years away, signing Rollins through 2014 wouldn’t be unreasonable. His defense has slipped a little but remains above-average. Who knows — perhaps he’d be amenable to playing 3B when Chipper retires?

More from the ESPN scribe regarding Los Bravos:

Teams that have spoken with the Braves report they’re continuing to “float” Jair Jurrjens‘ name, even after their potential deal to send him to Kansas City fell through. “They’re not really pushing him. They’re floating him,” said an executive of one team that spoke with them. “The impression we got is they’ve got to unload money. They want to get a bat, and the only way to do it is to unload money. The one guy they’d move, no problem, is Martin Prado. He seems like he’s fallen from grace over there.

Prado had just found his swing when he got hurt last year. Another team will give him a position to play instead of moving him around, and he will finish top 10 in the MVP voting. Plus, the fans love him, and that should matter.

Rollins will ever hit above .275 again, and his defense suffered some this year. But he doesn’t strike out much, and he is a proven winner. Maybe he could show these guys how to drive in a baserunner.

I would like Rollins….I am concerned about the dislike for Prado. One down year due most likely to injury and change of position and they are ready to move on? He is still relatively cheap, he would probably give a home town discount, and right now he is the only viable back-up/future third baseman in the organization.

Even after saving money on Lowe, KK, Mclouth, AND a raise in payroll, yet we need to dump money to get a bat that is not even on the level of a Cuddyer or Willingham type? If we dump Prado to save 5 mill, who are we going to get that is better without spending more money? I am totally confused as to what Wren is trying to do. And a little worried.

Agreed, because I doesn’t sound like they’re expecting that much in return. I wouldn’t be counting on The Terd to replace Chipper next year if I’m FW — assuming Chipper makes it through 2012. We’ll be missing Martin when Ty Wiggington or Brandon Hicks is playing third.

you’d like to think there’s another pending move going unreported that would make that make sense, but i don’t get the feeling that wren works that way. regardless, trading prado would be a mistake; he’s one of the few that seems to give a damn.

I’m not real keen on getting Rollins, because I think we’d be paying for what he was five years ago, not what he’ll be in the out years of the contract. (See Lowe, Derek,)

And although once he got going, Uggla was a great addition, the team really missed the versatility of Omar Infante last season. So now they’re considering moving the other good-hitting versatile player they have? Last I checked, the Braves were in the National League, were bench flexibility is a necessity. Unloading him just to pick up some additional payroll (and, perhaps, because that chump Fredi’s decided he doesn’t like him) is extraordinarily shortsighted.

After the Parrish thing, I don’t think Fredi has nearly as much pull as he did even as late as August, especially with Wren. I don’t think his firing is imminent (alas) but I think his leash is rather shorter than it once was.